The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Wiring time!

Hey folks. I’m finally getting to the wiring stage on my 1959 apache 3100.

Working on the engine wiring. 235 cu with an Offenhauser intake and dual Carter Weber Carbs from Tom Langdon. I also installed the “Mini HEI” with the round coil from Tom as well. Using an American Autowire, wiring kit.

What I have completed thus far is I installed the “Mega Fuse Panel” on the firewall behind the battery. The mega fuse panel has the following:

- wire connected from the starter to the fuse block,
- from the fuse block a main power wire to the fuse panel installed under the dash,
- from the fuse block to the alternator

The alternator that I have installed is what I would consider a single wire, which as I specified, goes to the fuse block. The alternator part number stamped on the housing is 1100545 321 (or 324).

The main wire harness for the engine has the follow:

- Tan wire to electric choke. I need to figure this out as I do not see exactly where the wiring goes. I read somewhere that the carbs also need to be grounded but I don’t overtly see any wiring posts on the carbs. And do I wire both?

- white Tach wire to the negative terminal on the coil. Straight forward however the posts on the coil are what I have been told are a ford hookup and the connectors can fall off.

- Pink ignition wire to the positive terminal on the coil.

- Dark Blue wire to the oil pressure sensor,

- Dark green wire to water temp sensor,

- Brown wire to “Alternator IGN”. This one baffles me...... as I am unsure where this should go, if it is required....... it’s a single wire alternator I believe. There is an additional bolt in the rear of the alternator but it looks as though that’s for attaching to a bracket.

The main power for the starter comes from the battery and attaches to the terminal on the starter. An additional wire goes from the same terminal to the “mega fuse block”. There is also a “R” and “S” terminal on the starter.

- a yellow wire from the “R” terminal on the starter to the positive terminal on the coil...... is this correct? Well the schematics say it’s supposed to go to an ignition ballast resistor and then onto the positive post of the coil. But I’m sure the resistor is not needed..... and I am confused and unsure of this connection.

- a purple wire from the “S” terminal on the starter to the main fuse panel under the dash. It goes into the same connector as the main power to the fuse panel from the mega fuse block.

So that’s about it..... simple right? Anyway. Just a few questions.

This may be a way of terminating to coil.

Thanks for the quick reply Bartamos!

I have spoken with both Tom and American Autowire. I have to say that Dave at American Autowire is very knowledgeable. Regardless below I will outline what I have learned

1. The part number for the wire harness, specific to the "Engine Kit" portion of the vehicle kit is 510405.

2. My belief that the Alternator is a one wire system is based solely on the fact that there is only one terminal on the alternator itself. I do not recall the specific vendor part number as it has been a couple years since I have purchased it...... In regard to the alternator being 42 amps, Dave at American Autowire indicated that 42 amps should be fine if I did not have a bunch of accessory components such as electric fans or air conditioning..... I discussed the PROS and CONS of a single wire Alternators in lieu of a 3 wire. It was explained that the brown wire leading from the harness to the Alternator is specific to a 3 wire alternator and is not required with a single wire system. This wire is considered an "exciter wire" that delivers power to a low voltage generator that generates the voltage needed for the alternator to start generating its own power when the vehicle has been started. The single wire alternator is "hot" all the time and contains an internal voltage regulator and does not require an "exciter wire". The con of the single wire alternator was explained that when parked for extended periods of time, ie. throughout winter that the alternator will drain the battery. In my particular application I was told that the brown wire is not required and can be coiled up and unused. Dave provided a tip of putting shrink wrap over the end and sealing it up from inadvertent contact.

3. Dave advised that both carburetor electric chokes can be wired to the same wire. Again I need to do some research in regard to where and how the electric chokes are to be wired.

4. Bartamos, I really like the suggestion of the coil connector. That looks like a cleaner way of wiring the additional wiring to the coil leads. I did speak with Tom briefly today and he did confirm that the coil is a 75-78 Ford HEI coil.

5. I spoke to the alternator in the second paragraph,

6. My bad, yes I should have clarified that the "R" and "S" terminals are actually on the solenoid and not directly on the starter,

7. Tom did confirm that the system is comprised of a "GM HEI" with the 75-78 Ford coil. Both Dave at American Autowire and Tom clarified that the yellow wire was for the old points system, is not required and can be deleted. Dave advised that the yellow wire from the "R" terminal of the solenoid was originally designed for engine starting in older applications. Dave described how in older applications power was provided to the coil via the solenoid during starting procedures. In todays applications the power is provided via the pink wire from the ignition.

I think I am well on my way to having the engine wired up in short order......